Character name:
Nitta Sayuri
Sakamoto Chiyo
Appears in:
Memoirs of a Geisha
Date(s):
Released:
29 November 2005 - JP
23 December 2005 - USA
16 December 2005 - CA
13 January 2006 - UK
19 January 2006 - AU
19 January 2006 - DE
20 January 2006 - ES
1 March 2006 - FR
Award(s):
| Character back story:
In 1930s Japan, nine-year-old Sakamoto Chiyo lives in the small fishing village of Yoroido with her sister Satsu, her terminally ill (with bone cancer) mother and her elderly father, a fisherman. It is during the Great Depression and her father can barely afford to take care of Chiyo's mother. Chiyo soon meets Mr. Tanaka, a wealthy man who wants to give her a different life. She first thinks that Tanaka is going to adopt both her and Satsu, and possibly her father as well, but it turns out that her father has sold both of them to Tanaka, who takes them to Kyoto, where they are separated. Chiyo is sold to the Nitta okiya, a geisha house in the geisha district of Gion. Chiyo meets the three mistresses of the okiya: Mrs. Nitta, or "Mother", her adopted sister Auntie and Granny, a retired geisha who had adopted Mother and Auntie. It soon becomes evident that of the three of them, only Auntie is caring to Chiyo. With her unusual blue-grey eyes (which she inherited from her mother), Chiyo is to train to become a geisha, but is constantly antagonized by Hatsumomo, the sole resident geisha of the Nitta okiya. | Inspiration for character:
Taken from Arthur Golden's novel 'Memoirs of a Geisha. But Golden interviewed retired geisha Mineko Iwasaki about her life, which inspired the story and its characters.
| Age: About 9 years old when she is sold to the okiya, 15 years old when she starts training as a geisha, by age 18 she has repaid her debt and more to the okiya.
Profession: Geisha
| | Personality type: | | Signature look: | | Resides: | | Character connections: | | Fun facts/trivia: |
|
